Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



3"Sheets,- -Sheet I A.. E. WHITMOR'E. Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-A'rms. No, 125,775, Patented April16,l87 2.

3 Sheets--S-heet 2.

. A. Hl' RE. Imp ment in chding Fire-Arms.

, Patented April 16, F872.

I v i z wfim QWZZZ M 3 Sheets-*She etS.

A. E. WHITMORE.

Improvement inBreech-Loading Fire-Arms. N0.125,775.

E, Patented Apri|16,1872.

PATENT Qrrron.

ANDREW E. VVHITMOBE, OF ILION, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-L'OADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 125,775, dated April16, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW E. WHITMORE, of Ilion, in the county ofHerkimer and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements inBreech-Loading Fire-Arms, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawingmaking part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of the breechblock and other parts of a gun having my improvementsapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective view, representing the rearportion of the barrels of a double-barrel gun constructed in accordancewith my invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view, representing thebarrels unlocked, their rear ends being swung up and the hammer beingheld at half-cock. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central section with thebarrels locked in place, one of the hammers being represented atfull-cock. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal central section with the rear endsof the barrels swungup to receive their cartridges. Fig, 6 is atransverse section on the line 20 w of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a transversesection on the line as w of Fig. 1. Fig. Sis a perspective view of thebolt for locking the barrels in their firing position; Fig. 9, detail tobe referred to.

My present invention relates particularly to certain improvements in thebreech-loading tire-arm for which Letters Patent of the United Stateswere granted to me on the 8th day of August, 1871 and consists, first,in a lever provided with a curved slot, and operated by the bolt whichlooks the barrels in their firing position, the said lever operating thecartridge-extractor, and also serving as a joint check or stop forarresting the motion of the barrels as their rear ends are swung up ontheir joint, by which construction the joint-check is removed from thejoint, and the strain consequently brought upon the joint-pin, as required, instead of upon the tip of the stock, as in the oldconstruction; and my invention also consists in an incline on thelocking-bolt, which operates on a correspondingly-inclined portion ofthe rear lug, whereby, as the bolt is withdrawn, the rear ends of thebarrels are raised by a positive motion, which insures the loosening ofthe cartridge shell by the extractor, in case it should adhere to thesides of its chamber, thus allowing the muzzle ends of the barrels todrop by their own weight as soon as the bolt is withdrawn, which wouldnot otherwise be the case if the cartridgeshell should stick in thebarrel; and my invention also consists in a stop, in combination withthe locking-bolt, which prevents the locking-bolt from being drawn backto such an extent as to allow the barrels to become accidentallydetached from the stock, this stock being made movable, so as to admitof an additional backward movement of the bolt when it is desired todisconnect the barrels from the stock for cleaning or other purposes;and my invention also consists in a hand-lever, connected with thelocking-bolt, and placed on the upper side of the tang of thebreech-block, said lever being provided with projections against whichthe rear portions of the hammers strike before being brought tofull-cock for the purpose of depressing this lever in case it should nothave been previously brought down into its proper position, thusinsuring the rigid lockin g of the barrels in place before the gun isdisch. rged.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention,I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawing, Arepresents the breechblock, to which the barrels BB are pivoted at a, in a well-known manner, in order that their rearendsmay be thrown up out of their firing position to receive the cartridges.0 is the tang, and D the trigger-plate, between which the forward end ofthe stock (not shown) is secured. E is a hand-lever, of the form seen inFig. 4, which is placed on the upper side of the tang G. The forward orupright portion b of this lever passes down through a slot, 0, in thetang O, to which it is pivoted at d, the lower end of the portion 12entering a notch in the rear end of a bolt, G, which extends through asolid portion, 6, of the breech-block A, into and through a rectangularopening, h, Figs. 1 and 4, andthence through a solid portion, '5, of thebreech-block into another opening, 70, also of rectangular form. From 10to 11 the bolt is circular in cross-section; from 11 to 12 it is cutaway, leaving it nearly rectangular, the forward end of the rectangularportion terminating in a head, 1, the surface 13 of which at thejunction of the rectangular portion there with, is beveled or inclinedupward. The portion 13 to 14 of the head I, passing through the portion2' of the breech-block, is also circular in cross-section, and the frontportion of the head 6 is cut away on its under side leaving asemi-cylindrical projection, m. On the under side of the barrels B B areformed two lugs or projections, H I, the lug II dropping into theopening h, and being provided with a longitudinal slit, 11, extendingthrough it of the same width as the rectangular portion 11 to 12 of thebolt G, by which construction the lug H is enabled to snugly fit intothe opening h, the sides ofthe rectangular slit it coming into contactwith the sides of the rectangular portion of the bolt from 11 to 12,while the portion or head 11 of the bolt snugly fits into a circularrecess, 15, formed by cutting into the rear end of the lug H. The frontlug I fits snugly into the rectangular opening k, and is cut away ornotched at o for the reception of the semicylimlrical head at ot thebolt G, and thus, as the hand-lever E is depressed after the rear endsof the barrels have been brought down, the bolt is thrown forward,causing its portions 11 and m to respectively enter the recess 15 andnotch 0, thus preventing any lateral vibration, and insuring the rigidlocking of the barrels when in their firing position. The rear of thelug l is provided with an incline, 16, against which thesemi-cylindrical projection on strikes as the bolt G is thrown forwardby the hand-lever E, thus drawing the rear ends of the barrels firmlydown upon the breech-block, in case they should not have been completelybrought down into place when the muzzles were thrown 'up by the hand. Kis the eartridge-extractor, which fits into a recess at the rear ends ofthe barrels, and is provided with a long pin, 17, whieh slides in anopening made to receive it. The lug I is provided with a longitudinalslit, 18, for the reception of a lever, 19, Fig. 9, which moves on thejoint-pin a as a center, its motion being limited by apin, 19, passingthrough a curved slot, 20, and the sides of the lug. The rear end of thelever 19 projects slightly beyond the end of the lug l, and, when thebolt G is withdrawn, as seen in Fig. 5, the end 21 of the lever 19 stillbears against the projection m, which holds the lever stationary. and,as the rear ends of the barrels are thrown up, the end of the pin 17 isforced against the end 22 of the lever 19,

causing the cartridge'extractor to be forced out to loosen and partiallywithdraw the shell of the cartridge, as required. The motion of thebarrels is arrested by the pin 19 coming into contact with the upper endof the curved slot 20 in the lever 17, and this slotted lever and pin 19thus form a joint check or stop for arresting the motion of the barrelsas their muzzle ends are swung down on the joint a. By this arrangementthe joint check is removed from close proximity to the joint a,where ithas heretofore been placed, and I am thus enabled to avoid the strain orpressure upon the tip of the stock and the tendency of the joint toopen, incident to the old construction.

The lower portion of the front of the rear lug H is beveled or inclinedat 23, and. as the bolt G is withdrawn, its inclined portion 13 bearsagainst the incline 23, which slightly raises the rear ends of thebarrels with a positive motion, and, by means of the connectionsdescribed, causes the cartridge-extractor to be operated, which loosensthe cartridge-shells, in case they should stick within the barrels, andallows the muzzle ends of the barrels to drop by their own weight. If itwere not for this device the sticking of a shell in its chamber withinthe barrel would necessitate the appli-- cation by force to depress themuzzle ends of the barrels, which is inconvenient, it being desirable tohave the barrels free to swing on their pivot to as soon as thelocking-bolt Gris withdrawn. Instead of providing the bolt G with anincline, 13, and the lug H with an incline, 23, a single incline oneither may be found sufficient for accomplishing the desired end, andinstead of the incline'23 being upon the lug H, it maybe formed on aprojection on the under side of the barrel between the lugs H I.- q is astop, which is attached to the under side of a flat spring, M, whichextends transversely across the breech-block, one end being securedthereto at 24, while the other end is free to be raised by the hand, fora purpose to be presently described. The stop q fits into a notch ordepression, 1, in the bolt G, and prevents its projection m from beingdrawn back out of contact with the end 21 of the lever 19, which wouldallow the barrels to drop 0d the stock. When, however, it is desired todetach the barrels from the stock for cleaning or other purposes, thespring M is raised, which withdraws the stop q from the notch r in thebolt G, which can then be drawn bacli by the lever E until itsprojection m clears the end 21 of the lever 12, when the lug I can beraised out of the recess k, and the barrels removed as desired.

I do not limit myself to the exact construction or position of the stopq, as it can be applied to the bolt G at any convenient point,

N is the hammer-guard and lifter, the lower portion of which slides inthe slot 0, and is attached, by a screw, 25, to the bolt G, by which itis actuated. When the lever E is raised,the

guard and lifter N is drawn back, bringing the projections s s on itssides into contact with projections on the hammers, which are thusforced back until they are brought to half-cock, which prevents themfrom accidentally striking the firing-pins (not shown) when the bolt Gis withdrawn and the barrels are not locked in their firing position.The hand-lever E- is provided with projections t t for the rear portionsof the hammers to strike against before being brought to full-cock forthe purpose of depressing this lever in case it should not have beenpreviously brought down into its proper position, thus insuring therigid locking of the barrels in place before the gun is discharged.

Claim.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

4. The hand-lever E,in combination with the locking-bolt G, whenprovided with the projections t t for the hammers to strike against, soas to insure the locking of the barrels before the hammers can bebrought to full-cock.

Witness my hand this 4th day of Decemher, A. D. 1871.

ANDREW E. WHITMORE.

In presence of- P. E. TESCHEMAGHER, N. W. STEARNS.

